Union Square Drawings: Day 1

I always say "I want to draw more", "I want to get better at drawing", etc. Yet, of course, I rarely make the time for it. Now that the weather is getting nicer I want to get out to draw people in New York more often. There are so many interesting individuals in NYC, and if there's one place to see where a lot of them converge, it's Union Square. Here are 3 that I thought turned out a bit better than the rest. Now, I'm not kidding myself, I know I have a long way to go, and there's a reason these are being posted on my blog and not my portfolio site ;) But I'd be a fool living in this city, surrounded by so many people from all walks of life, if I didn't get out there and draw every now and then.

I used to try to draw an exact figure of what I saw, but since I've gotten further into animation, (and since it's been forever since my life drawing classes), my main goal is to find and represent the soul of the people I see. After all, that's really my goal as an animator, and I've always heard that when drawing people, you should "cut to the heart". I still have a problem with getting too detailed, and I have a lot to learn about anatomy, but I think that will improve with practice. Besides, it is much more interesting and fun for me to just use the people around me as reference, and to read their emotions, than to try to exactly replicate everything--especially since these people are always moving.

The girl with the dog is a drawing based on a gesture sketch I made when I saw her, in the other two I was trying to capture the attitude and character of the person, without much emphasis on an exact pose.

I'm pretty happy with this one, would have never drawn something like this had I not seen her. That bench needs a bit of work ;) I was really struck by how much she obviously loved her dog.


This guy was one of 2 singing songs together. They were pretty good, I really wanted to show how loud he was singing by exaggerating how wide his mouth was open. These guys were singing for everyone to hear, and weren't shy in the least.


No, I did not make this guy up! He kinda shuffled down the sidewalk, then suddenly started screaming loudly. Not fearfully or painfully or anything, just this odd, half happy/half angry yell. It was pretty impossible to draw the outfit he had on in detail, I even forgot the feathered boa he had around his neck, and I have no idea what that pillow like thing he was carrying was. But come on, how could I not make an attempt? :)